


Spiders Like Butterflies

by ForgottenChesire



Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Character Death, F/M, The Mist Series Fusion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-19 21:45:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14246391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForgottenChesire/pseuds/ForgottenChesire
Summary: It's a small town. Things like this aren't supposed to happen in small towns. And yet the mist rolls in unheeded. And yet it festers and thickens. And yet Peter Parker has blood on his hands. They are sticky and tacky and he hates himself. Can't get what happened out of his head. They were studying and then they weren't. Things like this shouldn't have happened. Not here.Written for my friend Greg.





	Spiders Like Butterflies

_ She’s laughing. Head thrown back and cheeks rosy. He snaps a picture, and then another when she looks at him so sweetly. Her hands coming up to cup his face. It’s a beautiful sight. He can’t get enough of it. _

 

Peter stares down at his hands. Shaking, trembling hands. Tacky, sticky, red hands. He inhales a shuddery breath. He hadn’t been quick enough. He hadn’t been quick enough. Something bubbles up in his throat, tickling, clawing, making its way up and out. A laugh, hysterical and loud it makes the few people around him flinch away. Tears stream down his face because he hadn’t saved her.

 

He sees it play out in his mind. Sees her. Sees Gwen. Vibrant Gwen. Lovely Gwen. His Gwen and he had been her Peter.

 

_ She kisses his lips, a light touch and then it’s gone. She’s leaning against the bricks in a blink of an eye. Thick book on her lap. The red bricks of the library contrast with the paleness of her skin and hair. Peter knows that he should be studying just like she is. But he takes another picture instead. Her blue eyes flick up and she shakes her head. _

 

_ “We have a test,” she reminds him. _

 

The cynical part of Peter breaks in and wonders if they will still have a test to take when this is all over.

 

_ “A history test. When will we need history?” _

 

_ She stares at him hard and he takes one more picture before putting his camera down. He had wished that something would happen, something fun to distract him from the boringness that is history. How stupid is that? Why had he done that? Then the mist rolled in. They noticed, ignored it because it wasn’t that thick. _

 

_ Flash had come out then. Loud and rowdy with a group of admirers. They had walked into the thickening smoke. That’s when the screaming had started. God the screaming.  _

 

_ “What was that?” _

 

_ Both of them are standing. Both of them looking into the Mist. Another screams echoes and off Gwen ran. She had ran and he had followed a moment later. Too slow he followed her. There are bodies on the ground that he has to dodge. One of them catches his eyes, a friend of Flash, beaten and bloody. He trips. He trips, he screams as he takes in the wide-eyed look of a head without a body. So much blood, it’s all over him. He can’t get up. There are spiders everywhere. Crawling toward him. He hears Uncle Ben calling for him. Begging for help. It can’t be real. It can’t because Uncle Ben is dead. _

 

_ Hands grab him. Two pairs. Gwen is breathing hard. Neither of them sees the spider that crawls up her leg. _

 

_ “We have to go back,” she says just loud enough to be heard by the group of people who stands behind her, “we have to get out of the fog.” _

 

_ It takes so long to get back. How had they traveled this far? It’s too far. They’re going to die. Then right as they reach the library it happens. _

 

_ In slow motion he sees it happen. _

 

_ Gwen trips. _

_          She trips. _

_                        Staggers. _

_                                        Falls. _

 

_ He reaches out, fights to get back to her. But hands are pulling him toward the library. She stands. He sees the spider. Sees it bite down. Gwen reaches out for his hand, he reaches out for hers. The spider tattoo on her hand ripples. It moves. Travels up to her chest in the space of a breath. She pulls her hand back, his stays straining toward her. The scream that Gwen lets out echoes, it echoes in his head and down his bones. Her chest explodes, like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon the tattoo explodes. Gwen’s blood is so warm on his chilled fingers, on his arms and face. Someone screams with her. Someone screams in denial as he’s pulled further away from Gwen. Spiders pour out. Spiders upon spiders upon spiders. _

 

_ It’s when the door to the library closes that he realizes that it was him screaming. His voice goes out. _

 

_ “I’m sorry Parker. I’m so sorry.” _

 

_ He ignores Flash and keeps looking at the door. She’s going to come through the door. She has too. She has too. _

__

She doesn’t of course. Which leaves Peter staring at his hands. Leaves him wondering what he could have done to save her. If only he had been faster. If only he hadn’t tripped. If only. 

**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of the [LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:  
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